Section Z (NES) Playthrough
338A playthrough of Capcom's 1987 shooter for the NES, Section Z.
Do you remember the cover art design that Capcom used across all of their early North American NES releases? The style with the red grid of squares laid over top a blue background, and with the painted cover art framed by thick white lines?
Long before he starred in his own classic arcade beat 'em up, Captain Commando was Capcom's official corporate mascot, and the games that shipped in those boxes were all part of the "Captain Commando Challenge Series."
But Section Z, the fifth game in the "series," stood out from the rest for one important reason: it was the first game Captain Commando appeared in. According to the box copy and the manual, it's the year 2XXX, and "[y]ou shed your earthly identity to become the one remaining astronaut in space. You unite with freedom-fighter Captain Commando to enter the outer regions of space."
It's a neat connection, though I have no idea what they mean by "shedding" identity and "uniting" with the Captain. Am I going to be turned into a Buffalo Bill-style skinsuit that the Captain can wear as he flies around in space? Are they planning to merge our bodies on a molecular level? Should I be carrying mace and a rape whistle?
Moving along, Section Z is loosely based on the 1985 arcade game of the same name. But, as was the case with Strider and Bionic Commando, Section Z's gameplay was overhauled for the NES, and the arcade and NES versions are very different games.
The game is split into three large stages, each made up of twenty rooms, and individual rooms are linked together in a maze-like network of blue (unlocked) and red (locked) portals.
In order to get through a stage, you need to find and destroy the generators (which disables the locks), stock up on weapons and energy (which are often hidden in secret rooms), and once you're ready, make your way to the stage's final room for the boss fight.
The controls are good, but they take a bit to get used to. You hit B to fire left and A to fire right, Select activates your power-ups (represented by the letters at the top-right), and A+B awkwardly cycles through special items (like missiles and circling shields) that can be picked up from the center of the screen.
The action is fast and hectic, and it can be difficult until you figure out the enemy movement patterns. You can touch walls without being penalized and enemy bullets chip away small amounts of energy, but colliding with an enemy will instantly wipe you out and send you back to the first room of the current stage.
But the real challenge lies in navigating the labyrinth. There aren't many landmarks to navigate by, and unless you're drawing maps and noting the locations of important items, you'll quickly find yourself getting pummelled as you stumble around lost.
It's a good game. It came out fairly early in the NES's lifecycle, so it's saddled with the awkward jank that was typical of games from 1986/87, but if you aren't averse to playing a game with a notebook open in front of you and a pencil behind your ear, there's plenty of fun to be mined from Section Z.
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